This invention relates to a sliding drive apparatus arranged to open and close a driven member supported by a vehicle body, by a power from a motor.
A Published Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-300827 shows a sliding drive apparatus includes a cable connected to a driven member such as a sliding door supported by a vehicle body to be opened and closed; a drum capable of winding the cable; a motor arranged to drive the drum; and a tensioner arranged to provide a tensioning force to the cable by eliminating sag of the cable. The sliding drive apparatus is arranged to wind the cable around the drum by rotating the drum by the motor, and thereby to move the driven member to be opened and closed.
In this sliding drive apparatus, when the cable is connected to the driven member, the tensioner is temporarily held, against an urging force of a spring, in a non-tensioning region that does not provide the tensioning force to the cable, for facilitating the connection operation. After the cable is connected to the driven member in this temporarily holding state, the tensioner is released from the temporarily holding state, and the cable is provided with the tensioning force by the urging force of the spring.